Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1887-11-22

i Orenada, Mass, letter to the New
Orleans Picayune: Grenada county
furnishes new theocracy, which il
interesting. Along after the war q
negro woman named Scinda, who wa.
a slave of Captain Mitchell, a farmer
OF this county, suddenly revealed i,
to the world that she had been in.
spired by God, and was a servant oi
His to direct His people, both black
and white. She organized band oi
exhorters, and went from farm tc
farm, pleading with both colors to
quit their meanness. Her band grew
and now it numbers something like
800 members of her color.
In company with some friends
drove out to her church which is sit
uated three miles from here, Sunday
evening. Long before we reached
the church we c. ,uld hear the picking
of the banjo and the shuffiing of feet.
Alighting, Scinda, arrayed in gor-
geous red and yellow, came to the
door to greet US and welcome US in.
The church is small structure made
of pine logs. Around on the walls
hung her paraphernalia used in her
marches through the country. In the
center of the room stood a little ta-
bic covered with red cloth of gro
tesque figures of white sewed on it..
This is where the members speak.
When we arrived s'soldier" was
telling his inspirations for the day.
He consumed about ten minutes,
then they danced and sang, and
played the banjo and shouted. When
1anclng begins they all stand up, and
as many as can join hands until cir
Gle is formed. They march around
and around, singing their own chants,
occasionally stopping and each one
goes through shuttle to the music
of the banjo. This performance lasts
about ten minutes then another
breaches, and then a dance, and so
on until few minutes before they
break up for the day. Then every
voice is hushed and d stiffness per-
vades the house.
Rising slowly and deliberately
from her seat, Scinda, the priestess
of this new, original and strange re-
ligion, proceeds to the appointed
stand. Every one watches her with
ne-eved wonder and is eager to
catch every syllable of her ut,erance.
Her sermons are short and to the
point.
She claims that every word es-
Gaping her lips is from God. Her
sayings are original and some of them
not devoid of good sense. In her
sermon Sunday among other things
she said: Some of you darkies are
like hoecake cooked only on one
side. You come to church, and oh,
nothing is too good for you to do.
You sing and pray, and dance and
dance and shout, until one would
think you were ready for heaven.
Monday comes you show the raw
side. You are with the world; YOU
steal, you lie, you do everything that
is wrong. That is not the kind of
religion we want. We want the
hoecake cooked through and through.
When you break it in the middle let
it be as brown as it is on the bottom"
Speaking of the law, she said no law
could be too stringent for her She
wanted every violation of Gods will
punishable on earth as we'll as In the
world to come. ''The judges" she
said, "ought to be baptized in the
grace OF God; the bible says that
lawyers out to be g cd and honest
and prosecuting attorneys ought to
be chockfull of religion" She in
sists on personal cleanliness, and in
this she is not far from godliness.
She rigidly enforces honesty and the
prompt payment of debts.